Climate Fact: Temperatures and Crop Yields
In North America over the last 50 years, average nighttime low temperatures have risen faster than average daytime high temperatures. There has been a 50 percent increase in the number of unusually warm nights and nights that fell into the top tenth percentile in terms of temperature for the climate of the 1950′s now fall into the top 15th percentile. Increases in daily minimum temperatures mean that crops are using more water for evaporation in order to keep cool, which decreases the amount of water the plants use producing edible parts. Snap peas, for example, show marked reductions in production once the nighttime temperature rises above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. When daily maximum temperatures become too hot, plants like corn and soybean will not grow as well. Corn will not reproduce when temperatures are above 95 degrees and soybeans will not reproduce when temperatures exceed 102 degrees.
To view how corn and soybeans respond to given temperatures, visit http://www.earthgauge.net/climate-facts-image-library#7. This image is featured in the “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States” report recently published by the U.S. Global Change Research Program. The image is in the public domain.
Seasons: Spring, Summer
Source: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, Thomas R. Karl, Jerry M. Melillo, and Thomas C. Peterson,(eds.). Cambridge University Press, 2009
